Who knew? I sure as heck didn’t. Charlton Heston, a Hollywood mega-star throughout the second half of the 20th century, portrayed Robert Louis Stevenson’s infamous one-legged sea cook/pirate in a 1990 film version of his classic novel, Treasure Island? Well, shiver me timbers!
ALL IN THE FAMILY
So why would Heston, who famously portrayed Moses in the 1956 blockbuster, The Ten Commandments, and who won an Academy Award as Best Actor for the 1959 classic, Ben-Hur, take on the role of the sometimes charming, other times treacherous Long John Silver, with a parrot on his shoulder? One only need look at the film’s credits to see that its producer, director, and screenwriter was one person: Fraser Clarke Heston. Yep, Charlton Heston’s son.
As an aside, Fraser has one well-known acting credit. He appeared as the infant Moses in The Ten Commandments, floating through the bullrushes in a basket. It could be that his dad decided to reciprocate.
Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver.
“PIECES OF EIGHT!”
Why am I writing about this now? Let me backtrack a bit. In my, um, retirement I’ve been catching up on reading—or re-reading—some of the classics. One such selection was Treasure Island. (Stevenson’s original title for his 1883 novel was The Sea Cook: A Story For Boys.) A short time afterward, I decided to watch a film or TV adaptation of the story. There are over fifty of them, including the one that I recall seeing as a kid, the 1950 Disney version with Robert Newton and Bobby Driscoll. Lots of choices, ya think?
But selecting the 1990 version was a no-brainer. To begin with, a synopsis indicated that, at 132 minutes, the film remained faithful to the novel, from which a good deal of the dialogue had been mined. And the cast? Most impressive! In addition to Heston, the lead role of teenager Jim Hawkins was portrayed by teenager Christian Bale, fresh off his fine performance in Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun (1987). Also, Oliver Reed as Billy Bones, Christopher Lee as Blind Pew, and Julian Glover as Dr. Livesey, with a strong supporting cast.
So was this adaptation faithful to the novel? Having just read it, I can assure you that it was. And Charlton Heston, likely doing a favor for his son, appeared to be having a ball in the guise of Long John Silver. I highly recommend this version of Treasure Island, which has a 76% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.